The Sacramento Kings have been one of the most frustrating teams in the NBA to start the 2024-25 season. Expectations were high for the Kings after acquiring DeMar DeRozan over the summer on a $76.7 million deal, but thus far the only thing Sacramento is doing consistently is losing close games.
If the season ended today, the Kings wouldn’t even make the Western Conference play-in tournament. Sacramento is 13-15 overall — sitting with the No. 19 winning percentage in the league despite being No. 11 in net-rating. The biggest culprit has been their crunch-time woes: Sacramento is 6-11 in clutch games this year, tied for the most losses in the league in clutch situations with the tank-tastic Hornets and Raptors.
As the Kings face an uphill climb in the Western Conference the rest of the way, they now also need to deal with trade speculation around their best player.
De’Aaron Fox turned down an extension from the Kings over the offseason. His contract only has one more season left after this year, meaning Sacramento either needs to lock him down or trade him before they risk losing him for nothing in 2026 free agency. Fox’s agent Rich Paul is already in discussions with the Kings about their future, according to a new report by Sam Amick of The Athletic.
If Fox decides he doesn’t an extension with the team trending in mediocrity, Sacramento might need to consider trade options — either by the Feb. 6 deadline or this summer. One team is already making their interest known, according to The Athletic: the San Antonio Spurs. Per Amick:
Meanwhile, rival executives are monitoring the Fox situation closely and league sources say one team in particular — the San Antonio Spurs — is positioning itself to pursue the Houston native as a possible partner for Victor Wembanyama, should Fox become available. Barring a significant Kings turnaround, others are surely close behind.
The Spurs currently sit in 11th, one spot ahead of the Kings in the Western Conference standings. San Antonio has been building slowly around Victor Wembanyama to this point, but with the sophomore big man quickly leveling up, the team knows it will be time to push its chips in soon.
San Antonio owns the Atlanta Hawks’ unprotected first round picks in 2025 and 2027. They own the Chicago Bulls’ top-10 protected pick in 2025, which has dwindling protections through the 2027 draft. They have the Minnesota Timberwolves’ unprotected 2031 first-round pick. The Spurs also have all of their own future first-round picks.
Needless to say, San Antonio has the draft compensation any team would covet in a trade for a player as excellent as Fox. Add like three first-round picks going to the Kings in this deal, and there’s at least a framework of a trade that makes sense.
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Can the Kings get Stephon Castle or Devin Vassell in this deal? Vassell is more likely, but it still feels like a stretch for a team that would be hoping to make a big jump up the standings in making this deal.
Do the De’Aaron Fox trade rumors pass the sniff test?
Yes and no.
The Kings have been operating like a team that badly wants to win right now. They paid DeRozan a big deal at age-35, and gave up a 2031 pick swap to the Wolves to do it. Sacramento only has one playoff appearance since 2005-2006. The franchise hasn’t won a playoff series since 2004.
Sacramento’s tough first-round defeat to the Warriors in 2023 was supposed to be the start of their rise around Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Keegan Murray. Fox and Sabonis have been playing at a near All-NBA level ever since, but Murray and fellow wing shooter Kevin Huerter both can’t hit a shot this year. Sacramento’s offense is good (No. 8 in the league at the moment) but not quite as elite as it hoped. The defense is performing about as well as they could reasonably expect at No. 14 overall, but the Kings will always have problems on that end of the floor with this personnel.
There’s just not much room for upward mobility in the West. The Timberwolves, Suns, and Warriors would all be in the play-in tournament right now, which would qualify as a disaster for each of those franchises. The Spurs are coming. Even getting past a middling team like the Lakers won’t be easy for Sacramento.
The seriousness of Fox potentially leaving the Kings in free agency is hard to gauge right now. Before Paul George left the Clippers for the 76ers over the summer, it had been years since a max free agent changed teams in free agency. These days, players often take the most money they can get from an extension on their incumbent team, and then force their way out.
If Fox really wants to leave Sacramento, though, it’s possible he could just turn down the extension to force the Kings’ hand without looking like the bad guy in the process.
I don’t think Sacramento is going to trade Fox at the deadline unless things get really bad. That probably won’t happen for a team that still has a positive net-rating and is due for some clutch luck at some point. More likely, the Kings will hang around .500 and have enough of a shot at making the playoffs via the play-in as the end of the season draws near.
Ultimately, this Kings team won’t be good enough to win a playoff series even if they get there, and that will put the ball back in Fox’s court this summer when the next extension offer comes. The Kings will need to look at their future at face value without delusion: it’s always better for a team to act proactively in these situations while they still have leverage. That leverage won’t last forever.
Either way, Fox’s name is now officially in trade rumors. There’s usually only one way these situations end.
